Foster Care
by ximcarebear
Summary: Gabriella's childhood memories only consisted of one person: the boy she met on the day she entered the Santa Fe Foster Care. Now she's determined to find him again in the same place they met. TxG oneshot


_Gabriella cried to herself. She cried day and night, wondering what her parents did to deserve this. They didn't do anything bad; they fed her, changed her, and took care about her for the five years of her life. Why did her parents have to die in a car accident? And why didn't they take her with them? Now she was all alone in an arm of a social worker who's bringing her to a foster home where all the other foster kids lived until someone came by and decided to adopt them. Now she has to be like those other kids who didn't have parents either. She's alone now…_

"_Don't worry Gabriella. You'll love it there. You'll have a lot of kids to play with," the social worker told her. She looked nice and sweet but Gabriella still couldn't trust her. She kept her words to herself, afraid that if she said the wrong thing, the social worker won't help her anymore and she'll have to be all alone. _

_They soon arrived at the foster care. It was an ordinary center with flowers planted at the entrance. The top had the words 'Santa Fe Foster Care' engraved in gold letters. Gabriella didn't really see it as much of a home but she had no other place to go. The car stopped and the social worker opened the door. _

"_C'mon kiddo. Let's go meet your new friends." She flashed Gabriella a smile before pulling her gently off the car. They walked past the entrance and into the foster care where they were greeted with a middle-aged woman._

"_Welcome! And this must be young Gabriella." She kneeled down to Gabriella's height. "I'm Sherry and I'll be your foster mother. How old are you?" Gabriella raised up her whole palm, showing five fingers. "Are you five?" Gabriella nodded. "That's perfect. There are some other five years old kids here. You'll feel just at home." Gabriella's eyes started to tear up; nowhere would be home to her except the home she shared with her own parents. Sherry grabbed Gabriella's other hand that wasn't occupied by the social worker and pulled her in the foster care. Sherry lead her to a room that had a couple of beds set near the wall. There were about five beds on each side. All except one bed were made and was decorated with each kid's choice of bedsheets. Sherry brought her to the only available bed that was covered with white sheets. "This is going to be your bed, okay?" Gabriella nodded shyly. _

"_I've set her paperwork on your desk," the social worker said._

"_That's fine. I just want to show her the kids' playroom before we discuss the paperwork." The social worker nodded and left. "Gabriella, do you want to go play with the kids?" Gabriella bit her lip nervously and nodded. Sherry led her out of the bedroom and down the hall to the second door on the right. Gabriella's mouth dropped open in surprise when she saw the crowd of kids playing around as if it was the first day of kindergarten. "This is the play room. Why don't you go find some kids to play with?" Gabriella released her hand and walked slowly toward the group. Sherry and the social worker left to care for Gabriella's paperwork that needed to be entered into the foster care system. _

_Gabriella walked around to find someone she knew she would play with. Her face lit up when she saw a dolly laying on the floor ten feet away from her. She walked up to the toy and picked it up. She caressed the yarn hair on the dolly's head and hugged it tightly to her chest. It felt like the dolly she left in her suitcase that was with the social worker right now. This dolly had yellow hair while her dolly had brown hair like her. _

"_HEY!" Gabriella looked up to see another small brunette walking up to her like she was mad. She grabbed the dolly that was in Gabriella's hands. "That's my dolly!" Gabriella's eyes were tearing up; the dolly was taken away from her, just like her parents were taken away from her._

"_Annie, be nice," Gabriella heard a voice come from behind her. She turned around and saw a small boy wearing an orange t-shirt and jean shorts that looked a little big on him. _

"_She took my dolly first!" The boy looked at Gabriella with a frown. He looked around his surroundings and found another dolly that was in the toy chest on the shelf near them. He picked it up and handed it to Gabriella. _

"_It's okay. Take this one." Gabriella smiled and took the dolly. She hugged it tight to her chest. _

"_Thank you," she said quietly. The boy smiled._

"_I'm Troy." Gabriella looked up at him._

"_My name is Gabriella. My mommy calls me Gabi." Tears started to overcome her eyes, causing her to softly moan at the thought of her parents gone. Troy walked over and tugged on Gabriella's hand. She let him pull her to the big couch on the other side of the room. He climbed up and patted at the space next to him. She climbed up too, bringing the dolly in her lap._

"_Are you sad?" Gabriella nodded._

"_My mommy and daddy died." Troy frowned; it must've been hard for this little girl to cope with her parents dying. He leaned over and hugged her. Her arms hugged him back, not noticing the dolly dropping on the ground._

"_It's okay. Your mommy and daddy can see you above. You have to be happy." Gabriella sniffed and pulled back. Troy smiled at her and she couldn't help but smile back. _

"_Okay. Thank you." Troy jumped off the couch and ran out of the room. Thinking that he just went to get something, Gabriella remained in the spot on the couch. But he never came back._

* * *

Today at the age of sixteen, Gabriella thought about that little boy again. Troy. Ever since his disappearance that day, she seemed to think about him a lot. A week after that day, a Hispanic woman with the name of Julie Rodriguez came by to find a kid to adopt, learning that day that she couldn't have children. Her and her husband, Ben, came to the foster care to look for a kid to bring home. Their faces immediately lit up when they saw Gabriella playing with the dolly Troy gave her. With the help of Sherry and the social worker who was in charge of Gabriella, they managed to legally adopt Gabriella. Now Gabriella was known as Gabriella Montez-Rodriguez.

She was glad her foster parents let her keep her original last name. She still thought about her parents, remembering the five years she spent with them, but she was happy there were kind people who were willing to take care of her in her sad state. Julie and Ben raised her ever since they brought her home. Since they lived in Albuquerque, which was an hour away from Santa Fe, sometimes they would bring Gabriella back to the foster care to visit Sherry and her friends that she made the week she was there. Most of them had already been adopted but they would always find time to call each other up and meet up at the foster care to visit their beloved foster mom that took care of them during their stay.

Julie was driving in her convertible with Gabriella in the passenger seat. She was wearing a white dressy spaghetti strap babydoll top and denim shorts and to top it off, she had a yellow scarf around her neck and black sandals from Forever 21. **A/N: Pic in profile.** Her mother watched as she played with her fingers. Julie knew she was excited yet nervous. It's always been this way since the day she left Santa Fe. She came back every time, wishing she would see that little boy again. She got her hopes up every time Sherry would frown at her and shake her head. Gabriella would then know that he wasn't there. It only seemed that he only came that one day and fortunately was when she first arrived there.

Julie pulled up in front of the foster care, dropping off Gabriella since she had to rush back to work soon. "Hey kiddo, we're here." Gabriella looked up, nodded at her mom, and stepped out of the car. She began to walk into the foster care before her mom honked the car horn. "I'll come pick you up around 7, alright Gabi?" Gabriella nodded and resumed her pathway into the foster care. Julie sighed; she knew Gabriella was up for another disappointment since it always happened before.

Gabriella entered the foster care, putting on a smile before walking up to the front desk to greet Sherry. Sherry had always been there for most of her life. Whenever she came to visit, she would update Sherry on everything in her life. Once she stepped in, she could feel something different was going to happen today.

"Hey Sherry," Gabriella spoke. Sherry, being in her late thirties, looked up and her face lit up.

"Gabi!!" She ran around the desk and gave her favorite girl a big hug. "I'm so glad you're here today." She pulled back from the hug. "Where's Emily and Kylie?"

"They can't come today. Emily had a gymnastic competition in Texas and Kylie's sister-in-law just got into labor last night."

"That's very unfortunate. I was looking forward to seeing them," she said with a frown but the frown quickly disappeared. There's something up with Sherry.

"Is there something going on today? You look happier today." Sherry smiled widely, grabbed her arm, and pulled her down the hall. Gabriella knew she was dragging her to the children playroom. She hasn't been there in a long time with the time she spent just meeting up with Sherry, Emily, and Kylie here and then leaving to go to the shopping center nearby or anywhere else. It seemed like Sherry had something else in mind now that Emily and Kylie couldn't make it. Once they arrived the playroom, Gabriella finally knew why Sherry had a ecstatic look on her face.

"Is that…" She gripped on Sherry's arm tightly. "What do I say to him?"

"Anything. He came by to visit the kids. Finally on a day you're here."

"What do you mean by that?"

"He's been coming here since last year but he's a basketball player so he sometimes couldn't make it. Coincidentally, those days he wasn't here, you were." Gabriella gulped; he was standing right there in front of her, helping out a little guy build his tower of blocks. He laughed at the little boy's sad expression when the tower fell and wrapped his arm around his shoulders for a hug. He grabbed the blocks that fell and started building a tower a little while before the little boy joined in again with a grin. She took one step, afraid to go anywhere near him. She hasn't seen him for eleven years and she doesn't even know if he remembers her. She took another step quietly, or that's at least what she thought since he looked up at her as if she stomped a step loudly. He patted the little boy's head and got up. Her eyes widened as she took a step back. "Gabi, what are you doing?" She was getting more nervous as he walked up to her. She took another step back but she bumped into Sherry who wasn't letting her run away without talking to him.

"Hi," he said smiling. Gabriella gulped, eyes still wide open as if she saw a ghost.

"H-h-h…"

"She's wanted to see you for a long time," Sherry blurted. Gabriella turned around and glared at her, who chuckled and left the two alone. She turned back to him and blushed in embarrassment.

"So you wanted to see me?" he said. Gabriella didn't know how to respond to that without sounding like a stalker.

"D-d-do you r-r-remember… me?" She stuttered. He laughed and nodded.

"I wouldn't be so open if I didn't know who you were." She looked down at her sandals and played with her fingers. She saw him grab one of her hands and bring it to his chest. "You don't know how long I wanted this to happen, Gabi." Gabi. He does remember.

"Y-y-you do?" He nodded.

"I remember you perfectly clear. You were the shy girl I always thought you were." She blushed and smiled. It didn't take a lot of him to make her blush even when they haven't seen each other for eleven years.

"M-m-me too. Troy." Troy smiled and lifted her hand to kiss it.

"Why don't we go out and get some ice cream? I bet we have a lot to catch up." Gabriella nodded in agreement. Troy intertwined their hands together and pulled her out of the playroom. She would always remember this moment of when they first met and re-met.

It's hard to forget where you first meet your fiancé anyways.

* * *

**A/N: Sorry if it's short. I was just an idea that popped into my head and I just went with the flow. Hope you like it!**


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